Beautiful
by Sprints 100
Summary: A nameless newsie and his friend have a discussion about finding their perfect love. [One shot, pure fluff!]


**Author's note: **I wrote this a looooong time ago, and debated about putting it up here. But I figured, well, why not? It's not my best work, I don't think, but it'll keep all my fics in one place. It's pure fluff, so.. deal with it. Oh.. and again, I decided not to name the newsie, or the girl. Don't ask me who it is, because I don't even know. Make it up.  
For those of you who read _I'm In Love_, a lot of this will seem familiar. That's because I wrote that story after this one, and stole some ideas/concepts/lines from this story to put in that one, because I didn't think I'd ever put this up. Okay. If you can make sense of that, here we go.

This story is dedicated to my sister, Paula, because she likes it so much (I can't see why) and was the one who convinced me to post it.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Newsies.

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"What do you look for in a girl?" She had that far-away look in her brown eyes, the one she gets when she's happy to just _be_, and when she's forgotten all her worries. She wasn't looking at me, but up, rather. It was a mannerism of hers I've never forgotten. She never walked while looking at the ground, but always at the sky. She always said that it was much more interesting than the ground, even when it was gray, like it was today. 

We were in Central Park, and it was late spring. It had just finished raining an hour or so before, and she had dragged me here, like she always did after a light rain. It was the best time to talk, she figured, because not many New Yorkers cared to be in the park when everything was wet, and therefore it was conveniently left devoid of other people, who may, but probably didn't, care about our conversation.

I didn't answer her right away, and we continued to walk in silence. The leaves on the trees were still dripping, and as the sun began to peek out from behind the clouds, the grass sparkled with a million raindrops. It was chilly, and my clothes were still damp from when it had started raining hours ago. I shivered, and glancing at her, noticed that she didn't seem to have a problem with the cool temperatures. Good. I wouldn't have to offer her my thin coat. She had turned her gaze from the sky to me, and I realized I hadn't answered her question.

"What do I look for in a girl?" She nodded. She knew I was stalling. It wasn't an unusual question for her to ask; she always was the romantic type. But I didn't have an answer for her.

"Well… I look for a girl with a beautiful face, a beautiful mind, and a beautiful soul." She smiled at that, and her eyes went back to the sky. I mentally praised myself for that answer. It was a clever one. She appreciated clever answers. Too bad I couldn't come up with headlines that good.

"That's a… lovely way to put it."

"Lovely, hey?"

"Well, I would've said beautiful, but I figured you had used it three times already." I smiled. She always made me smile.

It didn't strike me at first to wonder why she had asked me that question. Our regular routine, as long-time friends, was that one of us would ask a question about anything at all, and the other had to answer it, absolutely truthfully. Then the second would ask the first the same question. I did so out of formality.

"What do you look for in a man?" She sighed loudly, which surprised me. She never was one to sigh at anything. I looked over at her and found that her eyes were closed, but her face was still turned up to the heavens as we walked. It always amazed me that she never tripped over the uneven path, even without looking at the ground.

She looked nervous, and it dawned on me that maybe her question had meant more than I had first thought. I suddenly felt very nervous as well. I shivered again, but for a different reason this time.

"Me? I look for a man that I'm completely comfortable with. A man that'll be… my best friend, as well as… my lover…"

My heart skipped a beat at her answer. _I_ had always been her best friend, and she mine, much to the laughter of my fellow newsboys- my friends. We had always taken it good-naturedly. My thoughts shifted back to the memories of previous long walks, and the talks that went with them, and I smiled. Yes, we were best friends all right.

What had she meant by her answer, then? I snuck a peek at her, and was surprised to find her turned to me with a hopeful expression on her familiar face. Embarrassed, I looked back at the ground. Of course I knew what she meant. What did I think about it? That was the real question.

She knew that I understood; she could read me as easily as she could read the papers I sold everyday. She was waiting for me to say something. And I didn't know what to say.

I suppose this hadn't come as a shock to me. There had been hints over the years. A lingering gaze, touch, reply. She wasn't as subtle about her feelings as she was about other things. No, I had known for a long time about the way she felt for me. What I hadn't known was how I felt about her.

It started raining again then. She looked at the sky, annoyed, but didn't say anything and turned back to me. Without a second thought, I handed her a paper, which she held over her head. Then I smiled. I blocked out the drizzling rain, and turned all my thoughts to her.

I remembered the day we met. The memory was perfectly preserved in my mind. I had been selling outside the local bakery that day, and she came to me for a paper. Not to buy one, but to simply read one.

"Why should I buy one," she had said, "when I'll only read it once? It'll never be of any use to me again- tomorrow, the next day, or even a year from now." I hadn't known how to answer her. I never did, but the answers always came from somewhere.

"Well, miss," I had said, "they do serve as pretty good hats on a rainy day, like we've been having all week. And we'll probably have tomorrow." She had laughed at that, and exchanged a penny for a paper. That was the only time she ever bought one from me. After that, I let her read one without paying, as long as she folded it up nice and gave it back. And she hadn't used it for a hat.

I smiled at the memory. I knew. I'd always known how I'd felt, but I'd never admitted it, to myself or others. I guess there was a time for everything.

"Did I ever tell you," I started, surprised at how confident I sounded, "that when we first met, I thought you had the most beautiful face I'd ever seen? And when I spoke to you, I thought you had the most beautiful mind I've ever come across?" Her grin was getting wider by the second, and I saw a tear in her eye. She was looking at me again, not the sky.

"And now, after I've grown to know… and love you, I'm sure your soul is as beautiful as they get." I finished, embarrassed at my shaking voice. The confidence hadn't lasted long, that's for sure.

She laughed, the happiest laugh I'd ever heard, and kissed me. I kissed her back. She grabbed my hand and we walked together, in comfortable silence, for the rest of the afternoon.

Since then, I've always looked forward to rainy days…

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Special thanks to: **Daisy Miller, Queenie90, riah-the-bee, Bam, antiIRONY, Arlene, **and **Tears in a Bottle** for reviewing _I'm In Love_!  
Review to this, if you'd like. I'd love to get feedback. What do I need to work on?


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